{"id":51299,"date":"2017-03-18T12:20:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T16:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/disneys-newold-beauty-and-the-beast-review\/"},"modified":"2017-03-18T12:20:55","modified_gmt":"2017-03-18T16:20:55","slug":"disneys-newold-beauty-and-the-beast-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/disneys-newold-beauty-and-the-beast-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney\u2019s New\/Old \u2018Beauty and the Beast\u2019: REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disney\u2019s New\/Old \u2018Beauty and the Beast\u2019: REVIEW<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Beauty<\/p>\n

Tale as old as time
\nTrue as it can be<\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t think that \u2018tales as old as time\u2019 would need so much retelling but they do. Certain properties never go away or are open to constant reinterpretation like the Shakespeare oeuvre or, well, fairy tales. A cursory bit of research reveals that there have been at least a dozen feature films or TV series from various countries based on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST<\/em><\/a>\u00a0tale.<\/p>\n

If you have never existed before today, here\u2019s what you need to know: A cruel prince is\u00a0cursed and transformed into a beast. If the Beast doesn\u2019t learn to love and be loved in return by the time the last petal on a magic rose falls, the curse will become permanent. Enter a beautiful girl<\/a> who could be the one to break the spell\u2026<\/p>\n

Disney\u2019s new colorful blockbuster isn\u2019t out to create a new take or even to pick liberally from past interpretations for something like a remix. It has one and one ambition only: recreate their 1991 animated classic in live<\/a>-action!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"beauty-soundofmusicmoment-2017\"<\/p>\n

Just a little change
\nSmall to say the least<\/p>\n

Whether this directive came from the Mouse House executives or the performance anxiety of Director Bill Condon and team we may never know but it\u2019s a strangely paralyzing approach. And not just for the filmmakers but the audience, too. Once the realization that they\u2019re dutifully aiming for a shot-by-shot remake settles in there\u2019s really nothing left for the audience to do but either sing-a-long or spend the two hours playing \u201cspot the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

I chose the latter to be respectful of my fellow moviegoers, since my voice is less Audra McDonald and more Emma Watson if you know what I mean. The shot-for-shot realization settled in as soon as Belle entered her \u2018little town\u2019 singing about the joys of reading in her book club of one. (My favorite moment in the original is when she sits by the fountain singing to a flock and one sheep eats a page from her book. Hee. But it\u2019s not there?! Justice for sheep actors!!!)<\/p>\n

\"beauty-snow\"<\/p>\n

Given that the live<\/a>-action recreation is 40 or so minutes longer than the animated original, there are a few changes. Generally speaking the book scenes are much longer, in an attempt to flesh out the characters though they remain cartoons, and the songs are given the same treatment with a few new ones thrown in. The Beast\u2019s new solo stops the movie dead in its track but one of the other new songs is a lovely ensemble number in which the castle staff long to be free of the curse. It\u2019s a welcome moment given that the phenomenal but barely seen supporting cast (Audra McDonald, Ewan McGregor, Sir Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, etcetera) aren\u2019t given very much to do at all.<\/p>\n

The most significant detour is a brief magical trip to Belle\u2019s childhood. This shift is a particularly smart move, filling out the relationship between Belle (Emma Watson) and her father Maurice (well played by Kevin Kline) while still keeping the sequence braided into the larger romantic drama. More imaginative scenes like this one would have gone a long way to giving the movie an identity of its own. It\u2019s a pity that this remake doesn\u2019t have the confidence of Disney\u2019s recent Cinderella, which moved about more freely than expected as if its animated predecessor were an equal dance partner rather than a strict choreographer.<\/p>\n

\"beautybeast-crotchshot\"<\/p>\n

Gaston\u2019s impressive crotch shot. Luke Evans is the object of LeFou\u2019s gay<\/a> affection<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[GAY SPOILER] As for that \u201cexclusively gay<\/a>\u201d moment we kept hearing about, that\u2019s much ado about nothing. Le Fou is as gay<\/a> as he\u2019s always been though this time Josh Gad makes sure you get the joke. Which is not to say that he makes it funny. In the finale, he dances with another male<\/a> villager who learns he likes wearing dresses when the wardrobe (Audra McDonald) attacks him in the \u2018castle fights the villagers\u2019 scene. This gay<\/a> joking wouldn\u2019t be so obnoxious since it\u2019s clearly not intended to be hurtful, if it weren\u2019t within the most heteronormative fairy tale of them all where the man<\/a> is a metaphoric beast that the perfect woman<\/a> must basically house-train and soften.<\/p>\n

Your mileage may vary but the opening prologue in which we get a teensy glimpse of the Beast as Prince also portrays him as something of a bitchy fop, complete with decadent glitter eye makeup. Problematic if you ask me, equating feminine dress up with soulless vanity. And it\u2019s also unfortunate to have gay<\/a> jokes circling around a male star who has had such a confusing relationship with coming out<\/a>\u00a0but what can you do!? [\/GAY SPOILER]<\/p>\n

Both a little scared
\nNeither one prepared<\/p>\n

\"beauty-emmanoooo\"<\/p>\n

Further compounding the problems of this stiff production is Emma Watson as Belle. Though her voice is on key (auto-tuned?), it\u2019s abundantly clear that she\u2019s no singer. There\u2019s no character in her phrasing, no emotional nuance to the notes, and little joy. Soulfulness in singing is as vital to musicals as oxygen is to breathing. Perhaps she\u2019ll improve in the book scenes? Alas, no. Watson has yet to learn to really relax in front of the camera<\/a> which would normally be a death knell for movie stardom but this being the era of Franchises Ruling Them All, her Harry Potter Q-Rating goes a long long way.<\/p>\n

Dan Stevens, who has been proving himself a surprisingly versatile actor since his breakout as Cousin Matthew on Downton Abbey, has a slightly easier time as the Beast but he isn\u2019t the one carrying the picture. The visual effects people are helping there, too.<\/p>\n

Certain as the sun
\nRising in the east<\/p>\n

Regardless of its rather glaring flaws this recreation of the animated classic is not without small moments of charm and flair. That\u2019s inevitable if you\u2019re doing a shot-by-shot remake of a stone cold classic (as Gus Van Sant\u2019s much-reviled but somewhat interesting Psycho experiment proved in 1998). Yet when the takeaway to any remake is \u201cWasn\u2019t the original great?\u201d the whole enterprise feels like futile nostalgia.<\/p>\n

Certain as the sun, this 2017 edition will be showered with as much real gold as any fictional fairy tale prince could ever possess. But as the Beast can tell you, money isn\u2019t everything. He had so much of it but he appreciated nothing. That\u2019s a sensation not unlike watching this movie\u2019s gargantuan budget and inability to make you feel anything you weren\u2019t already feeling merely by remembering the animated classic. The beast needed to find his soul to break the curse. By the time the credits roll the movie still hasn\u2019t found its own.<\/p>\n

\"beautybeastbest\"<\/p>\n

The two best film versions: Jean Cocteau\u2019s 1946 classic, and Disney\u2019s 1991 Best Picture nominee<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tale as old as time
\nSong as old as rhyme
\nBeauty and the Beast<\/p>\n

Aside from Jean Cocteau\u2019s 1946 ethereal French classic<\/a> with his lover and muse Jean Marais as the beast, none have had the staying power of Disney\u2019s 1991 animated musical version. The 2017 movie will not crash this party of two.<\/p>\n

With so many animated classics already in preproduction for their new<\/em> live<\/a>-action versions, there\u2019s cause to worry. If Disney keeps cannibalizing itself, reenacting their animated hits like they\u2019re nothing more than karaoke videos<\/a>, the Mouse House will eventually become its own cursed forgotten kingdom.<\/p>\n

\"disney-winterlogo\"<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a long way off from audiences tiring of the repetition but one day they will. When they do that Disney logo will take on a whole new unintended meaning. That magic kingdom with its fairy dust rainbow will transform into a frozen castle filled with monstrous inanimate things. Those merely functional objects within will sort of resemble characters that were once beloved. In their tiny mechanical hearts they\u2019ll live<\/a> in terror of that last petal dropping.<\/p>\n

The post Disney\u2019s New\/Old \u2018Beauty and the Beast\u2019: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"
\n<\/p>\n

Disney’s New\/Old ‘Beauty and the Beast’: REVIEW<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n